Pages

Sunday, October 4, 2015

The Great Destroyer - Building a 'Bratstyle' project bike in the PNW

Bringing new life to a bike that's older than me.

Since settling in Seattle, I've been looking for a project to work on. I didn't want to risk messing up one of our bikes, so I started looking for a on old bike on craigslist that needed some work. I ended up buying a 1978 Honda CB400II Hawk TII from my friend Tyler. With a rebuilt salvage title, and numerous obvious injuries, the bike's past was a mystery. Tyler shared the following photos of when he first purchased the bike, as well as the modifications he made.

Tyler made the following upgrades to the bike:

painted most of the frame

refurbished original gauge housing / replaced cracked bit

new ignition switch

restored the controls with paint, de-greased internals and applied new electric grease to all contacts

Honda factory grips / throttle tube

Motion pro throttle/clutch cables

new vinyl seat cover, painted seat frame

new gear selector

new brake lever

new mirrors

replaced headlight bucket, painted black

stripped gas tank of all paint, clear coated it

oil/filter change

cleaned carb

new air filter

new
tail light cover

By the time I purchased the bike, it looked much better:

Since I got the bike, I've removed the tail light and installed a side mount brake light. I also replaced the rear and front turn signals with matching LED sets.

I replaced the old headlight with a dual LED headlight, which was easier than expected considering the wiring mess inside.

I also painted the side panels and did my first pipe wrap.

Finally I clear coated the tank, replaced the grips and added a single handlebar mirror.